


How You Get The Girl

by theothersideoflove



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Awkwardness, Best Friends, Closeted Character, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2019-12-25 23:52:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18271628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theothersideoflove/pseuds/theothersideoflove
Summary: Cheryl and Toni are friends, but Cheryl secretly has a crush on her friend. She doesn't want to admit it yet, even if she starts acting in some weird ways that might suggest otherwise...





	1. I care about you

Cheryl Blossom, HBIC of Riverdale High, had suddenly began working at Pop's. No one could figure out why, since she had always despised people who "hated themselves so much that they couldn't find a better job than working at a diner", although she spent most of her time there. But things had changed for the red-haired, all because of one single person.

A few days before, Riverdale High, 9 am.

"Hey Toni! How are you enjoying your new fabulous job?" Cheryl walked fast towards Toni and stopped right next to her locker, with a huge smile on her face.  
"I mean... it's a job. I'll take that over being unemployed any day. Plus it's nice, working around the smell of milkshakes and hamburgers all the time, you know." Toni really needed the money. She could barely pay rent.  
"Of course. I'm glad you like it. You won't end up hating those things though, will you?" She said softly laughing.  
"I could _never_ hate milkshakes. _Especially_ the strawberry ones. Ever since you made me try it that one time after the movies, it became my favorite thing in the world. Literally. Also, just because I work at Pop's, doesn't mean we can't still hang out there." Cheryl slowly began blushing, but luckily the bell rang and Toni couldn't notice. She imagined the many  days they would spend sitting there in those booths, drinking milkshakes, pretending to study.  
"Toni, listen I... I wanted to ask you, are they still hiring at Pop's?" She sounded a bit uncertain, but she really wanted to spend more time with her, and the idea just popped on her mind.  
"Um... I don't know, I guess so? I'll ask around, why?" Toni was confused. Her friend certainly didn't need money, and she wasn't really the waitress kind of girl.  
"I figured why not start working there... it could be fun, life experiences I guess!" She tried to sound convincing, but Toni could see through her. Still, she wanted to help her.  
"Sure.. I gotta get to class now, but I'll let you know! See you later."  
Cheryl just stood there in the middle of the hallway, smiling like a dork, thinking about how much more time she could spend with Toni.

-

She ended up getting the job, and while working was not on the top of her to-do things at that moment, she was happy to be there with Toni.  
"Um, you look insanely good in that uniform." Cheryl said to her while checking her out.

Toni smiled and thanked her, but quickly went back to work. She wasn't noticing that Cheryl was flirting with her, or maybe she didn't wanna admit it. After that talk they had had at the movies, they had kinda stopped bringing the topic up. Toni thought it was a really delicate subject for Cheryl, who seemed still hurt by what had happened. So she just let things be and didn't put any pressure on her.

"Look, I'm taking a 5-minute break, wanna come smoke with me?" Cheryl didn't even know what to say. She had never smoked before, but she still wanted to impress Toni, to seem cool.

"Sure!" She was pretty nervous. She took a deep breath and went outside with her friend.

They sat on the bench right outside of the diner, and Toni pulled out two cigarettes. Cheryl hesitantly took one, hoping the other girl wouldn't notice how she was really feeling.

"So... have you ever smoked before?" Toni could actually see that she was worried, and she definitely didn't want Cheryl to do something she'd regret.

"Of course! You know, at parties and stuff... can you give me the lighter?" She tried to light it up for a bit, until Toni helped her.

"Thanks... I'm a bit shaky, it's so cold."

"Cheryl, it's May." The girl just laughed it off and began smoking. She thought maybe if she didn't breathe in that much, she'd be okay.

"You don't look like you've smoked before..." Toni had been smoking for a while now, and she could recognize a smoker when she saw one.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine! Maybe it's because I've only smoked a few times..."

She stopped paying attention to what she was doing, and suddenly she inhaled a little bit too much and began coughing nonstop. She stood up to get away from Toni, even if she had obviously noticed. After a bit she stopped and dropped the cigarette.

"Hey are you okay?" Toni walked close to her and put a hand on her shoulder, slowly caressing it.

"I'm fine, I'm sorry I dropped it, I guess I'm just really nervous." Cheryl felt guilty, she felt like she couldn't live up to Toni's standards, or be enough for her.

"No, hey, I don't care about the cigarette, okay? I care about you. I just wanna know if you're really okay, do you have like asthma and you didn't tell me? It's okay, really. Just tell me the truth." Then she took Cheryl's hand and looked her in the eyes.

Cheryl felt safe with her, like with no other person. When Toni gave her that look, she couldn't lie to her. She could finally be herself with her.

"No, I don't have asthma. I'm so sorry, Toni. I shouldn't have lied to you. I only did it cause..." She stopped and took a deep breath.

"Why? It's not like we can't be friends if you don't smoke with me. I only asked you cause I wanted to be nice... You don't have to be sorry, I just wanna know why you didn't tell me." Toni crossed her arms and waited for Cheryl to answer, but words couldn't come out of her mouth. She was about to cry.

"I..." She was unsure whether to tell her the whole truth, half the truth, or another lie. She was so tired of lying to her. But then something stopped her.

"Ladies, please come back to work, there are clients waiting." Pop came out to call them back in, and he was right, that break was going on for way more than 5 minutes.  
Cheryl wiped her tears and quickly went back inside, but Toni pulled her by her arm.

"Hey... don't just go like that. Talk to me" She was a bit hurt. She could sense there was something Cheryl wasn't telling her.

"You heard Pop. We have to work." The smile disappeared from her face while she looked down, and then she walked towards a booth and started taking orders, sometimes looking at Toni sideways. Toni stood there for a bit, doing nothing, then came back to reality and realized there was still something stopping Cheryl from completely opening up to her. Maybe she knew the truth.

When the shift ended Toni hoped they could talk, but Cheryl left as quick as possible.


	2. Do you... like someone?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl starts ignoring Toni and spends more time with Veronica and Josie. They soon start to catch up and notice something's wrong with their friend...

It had been 2 weeks and Cheryl was still acting very strange. She would obviously say hi and talk to Toni at school, before class, but she wouldn't return her calls or texts most of the time. She wanted a distraction, but all she could do was think about the past. About... someone, someone special. Someone who was once special.  
Cheryl knew that if she finally admitted how she was feeling she wouldn't hide anymore. Because she knew how it felt to love someone in secret, to spend hours with that person behind closed doors, to briefly glance at each other in public. She knew how it felt and she never wanted to go through all of that again.   
So she promised herself not to hide anymore, if there ever was the occasion. Maybe this was the occasion. But was she ready to finally take that step? She had to think about it, but all she wanted was to ignore it and do something else entirely, like spending time with her two best friends, - besides Toni - Josie and Veronica.

"Veronica! Cheer practice at 3 pm?" Cheryl and Veronica were in Spanish class together and they would often sit next to each other, since Betty wasn't in that class. Cheryl envied B & V's friendship; it looked so pure and special. They looked like those friends who would risk their life for each other. Cheryl kinda had that with Josie, but lately the two hadn't exactly been close. Josie would spend all of her time singing with the Pussycats - who were back stronger than ever - or hanging out with Reggie.

"Like always... Did you forget?" V looked at her confused, Cheryl wasn't one to miss or forget about cheer practice.

"Of course! I was just... checking in. _Bueno, empezamos  el lección!_ " She sounded so convinced. Veronica laughed a bit and then corrected her.

"Cheryl, it's _la lección_."

"Right! I was just kidding..."

"Sure."

-

Toni skipped practice that afternoon, and when Cheryl was supposed to start telling the girls what to do, all she could do was look around the gym to make sure the brunette wasn't hiding in the back or something. But she wasn't there.

"So, ladies, let's begin! 1, 2, 3..." Cheryl put the music on and they all began dancing. But Betty stopped it after some seconds.

"Cheryl, we have to practice the new choreography, remember?" They all looked confused, Cheryl's mind was obviously in another place.

"Yeah, you're right... Can you put the new music then? C'mon, from the top!" Cheryl tried so hard to focus, but she was slower than usual and she was forgetting most of the steps. Veronica saw that she wasn't in her best shape, so she decided to take over.

"Hey, Cheryl, why don't you sit down a moment and memorize the steps? I'll lead the girls today if that's okay with you." V started caressing her shoulder to comfort her.

"I'm fine! Why would you do that?" She was very annoyed, but deep down she knew V was trying to do what was best for her.

"You're not... please rest a little. Then you'll tell me what's going on."

Cheryl rolled her eyes and went in the back to sit down. She looked at her phone and there were no new texts from Toni. She was a little disappointed. Not that she expected much, since she was the one ignoring her friend.

"Cheryl, you okay? You wanna talk?" Practice was over and Veronica got closer to the redhead to try figure out what was wrong.

"Yes, Veronica, for the 50th time, I'm fine. I don't wanna talk. Bye." She took her bag and left the place.

-

It was 5 pm and Cheryl was headed to Josie's house to study.

"Hi, Mrs. Mccoy! How are you?" Sienna answered the door.

"Hi, Cheryl, come in." Josie was sitting at the living room table, and a huge smile appeared on her face as soon as she saw her friend.

"Hey, girl!" Josie got up and the two hugged.

Cheryl sat down at the table and took her books out of her backpack.

"Hey... I know I've been absent... a lot, and I'm sorry for that. It's just, it feels so good to have the Pussycats back and things are good with Reggie, you know? I like him. Of course, I told him I don't want anything too serious and we're just having fun. I've missed you though. So, we're gonna hang out more these days, I promise." Josie sounded really sorry, she wanted to make more space for her best friend.

"You don't have to be sorry. I'm happy for all that's happening with you and I love to see you thriving, believe me. I do miss you too, though." Josie put her hand on Cheryl's.

"Okay, enough with all this emotional stuff! Do you want something to eat, or drink?" Josie went to the kitchen to get some snacks.

"Sure, let's eat something." Cheryl got up too.

"I have... some Doritos, pretzels, popcorn, Cheetos.."

"Ooh, I love Cheetos! Do you have the Extra Flamin' Hot ones?" Cheryl was smiling like a kid who waiting for a new toy.

"Um... I have the normal ones?"

"Sure, it'll do."

They sat down again to eat, but Cheryl kept looking at her phone all the time.

"Are you waiting a text from someone?" Josie saw her friend was worried.

"No, um, I'm just checking my notifications." She tried to sound believable but Josie wasn't buying it.

"Come on. You've been staring at your phone since you got here. Do you actually not wanna spend time with me?"

"No, Josie, of course I wanna hang out with you! It's not that, trust me." Cheryl put her phone in her jacket.

"Okay then, what is it? Do you... like someone?"

"I- I don't know." Cheryl looked down; she trusted Josie, but she also wasn't sure of her feelings and she didn't wanna talk about something that wasn't real.

"What do you mean you don't know? Does this person make you blush, feel butterflies in your stomach and be giggly all the time?" Josie knew that Cheryl liked girls, but she didn't know whether she still liked boys or not. She saw her kissing guys at parties, but it could have been when she was drunk.

"I guess... but I'm not sure this person likes me back."

"Okay... then you have to make a move. Be flirty, ask them out. I know it's not easy to do but trust me, you'll regret it if you don't. Also, you can tell me who it is if you want." Josie smiled and had that reassuring look on her face.

"Um... it's... Toni. That girl from Southside High." Cheryl lowered her voice because she wasn't sure of Josie's reaction.

"Ooh, she's cute." Josie was happy for her friend and she appreciated that Cheryl trusted her and told her personal stuff.

"I know, right?" Cheryl gained her confidence back, since she saw everything was cool with Josie. She was still a little embarrassed after everything that went through between them, but she had apologized to her friend and it was like nothing changed, luckily.

"Wait so... is that why you started working at Pop's out of the blue?" Josie asked her smirking.

"What? No, I- of course not! I wouldn't do that for a crush- okay yes. This is so embarrassing. What kind of person have I become?" Cheryl sounded so dramatic in that moment, but deep down she wasn't serious. Then they began laughing.

"Please, as if you need the money! I find it cute. You're willing to do anything for her, even spending your afternoons cleaning dishes. Wow, that's love."

"Stop it." Cheryl laughed and softly pushed her arm.

"Now, we're gonna have a little chat about how you're gonna ask her out, all right?" Josie was determined to help her friend.


End file.
